William barnes



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N. PETERS, PHOTUALITHOGFBPNER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

STATES l WILLIAM BARNES, OF TROY, NE\V YORK, ASSIGNOR TO PHILO. P. STEWART, OF SAME PLAGE.

FEED-WATER APPARATUS FOR STEAM-BOILERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,360, dated September 6, 1859.

` To all whom t may concern:

the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Feed- Water Apparatus for Steam-Boilers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, Sheet I, represents an end elevation and Fig. 2, Sheet I,'a longitudinal onev of a steam boiler for supplying steam to pipes or radiators for warming buildings, with my improved feed-water apparatus attached; and Fig. 3, Sheet II, is an end, and Fig. 4, Sheet II, a longitudinal elevation of a boiler giving steam to an engine provided with a surface condenser, with my improved feed-water apparatus also applied thereto.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the figures; and the red arrows in the drawings indicate the courses of the steam, and the black arrows the course of the water.

It is often necessarily the case in heating buildings by steam, that the steam-boiler is located higher than some of the warming pipes or radiators that receive steam from the boiler, so that the water which results from the condensation of steam in those pipes or radiators is discharged therefrom at a place lower than the boiler: and it is not uncommon to set the boiler higher than the cistern, well or stream from which cold water is taken to keep up the supply in the boiler. In such cases it has heretofore been the general practice to raise and force the water into the boiler by a pump. But in such cases I raise and force the water, while at a boiling or any liquid temperature, into the boiler charged with steam at the usual working pressure, from a position lower than the boiler, by the use of the direct pressure of steam generated within the boiler, without employing a vacuum, or any pump or other like engine, in eecting that purpose. 'Io do this I locate a close receiver, C, at the place where the water is supplied, lower than the steam-boiler, A, into which latter the water is to be transferred. The hot-water which results from the condensation of the steam in the warming pipes or radiators, not shown in the drawings, or in the exhaust pipe, N, and the condenser, T, of the steam-engine, L, M, runs down into the receiver C, through conduits, a, a, furnished with check-valves or stop-cocks, S, O; and the cold water also enters the receiver C through a pipe or conduit, provided with a check valve or stop-cock or valve R. I also place a close chamber, B, higher than or on a level with the steamboiler, A, and make a passage, E c, ,which can be closed and opened as by a stop-cock or valve, G, from the steam-space in the boiler down into the upper part of the receiver C; and also make a water passage, d, which has a. check-valve or a stop-cock, I, from the lower part of the receiver O, up into the chamber B. And I also make a steam-passage, e, which can be closed and opened as by a stop-cook or valve F ,from the steam-space of the boiler into the upper part of the chamber B; and also make a water passage, f, provided with a checkvalve K, or a stop-cock, J, from the lower part of the chamber B into the boiler A.

The water in the receiver C being over the lower end of the pipe d, and there being enough pressure of steam in the boiler, the water is rst raised from the receiver, O, into the chamber, B, by closing the passages, e and f, between the chambers B and the boiler, and opening the passages, o and CZ, between the receiver C and chamber B, and the boiler and receiver C, so that the steam from the boiler A will press upon the water in the receiver O and force the w'ater up through the pipe Z into the chamber B. Then, by opening the passages, e and j, between the boiler and the chamber B so as to equalize the steam-pressure in the boiler and chamber, and, if necessary, closing the passages c and d, the water runs by gravity from the chamber B into the boiler A.

In heating or warming buildings by steam, there will in some' cases be enough steampressure in the warming-pipes or radiators where they enter the receiver C, as at a, to force the water from the receiver up through the passage Z into the chamber B; and in such cases a more direct steam-passage, 0, need not be used.

Anotherl part of my invention consists in having the receiver, O, when combined with the chamber B and boiler A, substantially as hereinbefore described, consist of two parts or chambers Y and X, (Figs. 2 and 4,) separated, as by a partition, g, and connected by a passage, L, that the water passes through from the chamber Y into the chamber X, when the pressure in the chamber Y exceeds the pressure in the chamber X sufficiently;-the cold-water supply-pipe, b, and the steanrpipe c from the boiler, both enterin gthe chamber Y, and the hot-water supply pipe or pipes, a., from the warmingpipes or radiators, or from the condenser of the engine, entering, and the water pipe to the chamber B leaving the chamber X; so that the cold water is taken into the receiver C without mixing with, and consequently without materially cooling the hot water in that receiver; and so that only the hottest water in the receiver C is forced into the chamber B and boiler A.

I am aware that it is not new to introduce water into a boiler, A, from a close chamber, B, placed higher than or on a level with the boiler, (the boiler being at the time charged with steam,) by having and using a steampassage, e, and a water-passage, f, (each provided with a stop-cock or valve,) between the boiler and the chamber, substantially as above described.

The water being raised into the close chamber B by atmospheric pressure, from an open vessel or well below the boiler A, through a pipe, cl, provided with a stopcock I, by first admitting steam from the boiler into the chamber B and then condensing the steam so as to make a vacuum therein, substantially as described in B. M. Hyatts patent of Oct. 10, 1840. But as such an apparatus does not contain the close receiver C and the steam-pipe which connects it with the boiler, (which parts are essential to my improved apparatus; and also necessarilyT depends for its action upon the pressure of the atmosphere developed by causing a vacuum by thecondensation of steam in the chamber above the boiler; and can therefore never supply water to a boiler which is more than about 34 feet above the place from which the water is taken ;-such an apparatus is essentially different from mine which does not depend for its action upon the formation of a vacuum, nor upon the pressure of the atmosphere, nor upon both of those causes combined; but depends upon the pressure of the steam of the boiler, which pressure may in practice be so great that my apparatus will freely supply a steam-boiler with water from a cistern or well, 50, 100 or even 200 feet below the boiler.

I am also aware that, in other cases than such as that last above mentioned, the steam from a boiler, A, has been heretofore madeA to press through a pipe, c, upon water in a close receiver C, located lower than the boiler, so as to force the water through a pipe, (Z, up into an open vessel placed higher than the boiler; which vessel was connected with the boiler by only a water-pipe, f, so that the water could run from the vessel into the boiler only when the steam-pressure within the boiler was reduced so low as to be less than the hydrostatic pressure resulting from the different heights of the water in the boiler, A, and the said vessel above it,-and consequently below the working pressure required to raise the water from the place of supply, C, below the boiler. But I do not know or believe that a close receiver, C, and a close chamber, B, have both, in any one case, been heretofore so combined with each other and with a boiler, A, substantially as herein described, that by the use of the said combination in substantially the manner herein specified, water at a boiling, or any liquid temperature, would be raised from a place lower than the boiler and also introduced into the boiler while the boiler was charged with steam of the highest working pressure.

Vhat I claim as new and my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with a steam-boiler, A, and a close chamber, B, placed higher than or at the same height as the boiler, and having communication therewith by a steampassage, e, and a water-passage, f, each provided with a stop-cock or valve, substantially as herein described, a close receiver, C, located lower than the boiler, and having a steam-passage from the boiler, and a water-passage into the chamber B, substantially as herein set forth, for use in raising water from a place lower than and introducing it into the boiler while the boiler is charged with steam.

2. And I also claim, in combination with the matter above claimed, making the receiver'C in two parts, Y and X, with the steamspipe, c, from the boiler A, and the cold-water supply-pipe Z), both entering one part, and the hot-water supply-pipe, a, entering, and a water-pipe, cl, to the chamber B, leaving, the other part, and with the two parts of the receiver connected together by a passage, L, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

WILLIAM BARNES.l

Witnesses:

THos. J. CORNELIUS, AUSTIN F. PARK. 

